Few spaces are as intimate and contemplative as prayer rooms. Designed as both stand-alone structures and part of larger projects, prayer rooms are made as an architecture of introspection. Located within a house of worship or funerary space, or for their own dedicated purpose, these quiet rooms offer tranquil areas to consider life and the passage of time. Reflecting larger ideas on specific faiths and spirituality, they are designed as spaces of symbolism and sanctuary. 

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With its quantifiable objectives and measurable performance, sustainability often passes as a technological challenge. Its primary language is that of data, equipment, and engineered systems, most often translated into a hyper-technologized layer hidden within a design upholding pre-existing aesthetic norms. As architecture is the image of society at one moment in time, how does the focus on sustainability translate into architectural language, further legitimatizing the efforts to establish an equitable relationship with the environment? Architecture serves as an expression of attitudes, and since sustainability has become a fundamental value, it is worth looking at whether or not it has produced an aesthetic transformation.

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Talking to the Louisiana Channel, German architect Anna Heringer outlines the way she works and her multi-disciplinary approach to architectural practice. Growing up in a small town at the Austrian-Bavarian border close to Salzburg - Heringer spent a year living and working in Bangladesh at the age of 19, a place that is now home to a majority of her office's projects. Heringer describes herself as a mix of things in addition to being an architect, describing herself as an activist and a development worker - using her creativity to explore ideas in a variety of forms and media.

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In a recent interview by Louisiana Channel, German architect Anna Heringer talks about the recently inaugurated Anandaloy centre in Bangladesh, a social space which became a catalyst for local development. The architect shares her commitment to sustainability and touches on the importance of the transfer of know-how to local communities through participatory building processes.